Munchlax, Hariyama and Scolipede finally seemed primed to drop in the upcoming rounds. I'm personally a little surprised at the low usage of Scolipede because it really is pretty good in this meta. Perhaps the large usage of Durant and Smeargle have kind of pushed it out of its niche.

| 56 | Poliwrath | 4.09627% | 3354 | 4.269% | 2796 | 4.335% |

This is pretty surprising considering that Poliwrath is still one of the best answers to the multitude of physical attackers in the tier, even without Cresselia there to aid him on the special side.

| 51 | Snover | 4.90833% | 3449 | 4.390% | 3325 | 5.155% |

Snover and hails teams in general at only 5% is pretty surprising considering how well they do in today's metagame.

| 22 | Cinccino | 9.03545% | 7192 | 9.154% | 5800 | 8.993% |

People seem to have finally grasped onto the greatness that is Cinccino!

| 10 | Druddigon | 11.49463% | 8261 | 10.514% | 7152 | 11.089% |

I don't think this should come as a surprise to anyone considering just how great Druddigon is in this meta.

UU Leader

| 84 | Braviary | 1.00483% | 921 | 1.172% | 728 | 1.129% |
Braviary needs a lot more love because it's such an amazing Pokemon in RU, 123 base attack with STAB Brave Bird and Superpower for coverage is just great. It also gets U-turn, STAB Return, Bulk Up (Braviary has the stats and movepool to use it both offensively and "defensively"), Roost and its ability Defiant is good because it basically forces Qwilfish to stay from Braviary.

Arrgh. These Pokemon are still too low in stats. These four are very underrated Pokemon, all better than Sandslash / Evire. The fact that Absol and Esca are still in this area of stats makes me want to scream in horror.

| 48 | Ferroseed | 5.44056% | 4646 | 5.913% | 4129 | 6.402% |

This Pokemon, while meritable to complete legitimacy, is hard to take seriously. I can't see a niche in Ferroseed anymore. It has no recovery, it is massive setup fodder for everything, is outclassed by Steelix and Escavalier as a Steel-type, and Roselia is 100% better as a spiker. There is no reason to use Ferroseed.

I am appalled as to why this thing is used at all. Primeape is a very mediocre Pokemon. It can't hit hard enough, is outclassed by Magmortar as a Smeargle / Lilligant counter, and is outclassed by Hitmonlee / Gallade / Sawk / Medicham as a Fighting-type. This needs to go to NU.

| 56 | Poliwrath | 4.09627% | 3354 | 4.269% | 2796 | 4.335% |

Still too low

| 60 | Munchlax | 3.60540% | 3110 | 3.958% | 2482 | 3.848% |

This needs to exit RU. It is the worst Pokemon in the tier and should not be here.

And down in the lower areas of stats, there lies many Pokemon who are underrated in RU and need more love, particularly Roselia, Golurk, Miltank, Swellow, Braviary, etc. Use those instead of Ferroseed, Primeape, Dusknoir, Munchlax, Sandslash, and Evire.

I can see Nidoqueen and Uxie both in the Suspect Testing over the next month for coverage and sheer bulk, respectively. No wonder Nidoqueen was in UU!

Also, I'm disappointed about Hariyama, my favorite Fighting-type in RU. Sure, it's not fast like Unburden Hitmonlee, but its bulk, especially on the Bulk Up sets (pun semi-intended), is unmatched, plus who doesn't love a Cross Chop-boosted Guts? I'd like to see it rise in usage this next month.

Just something I saw from the UU stats: Nidoqueen is actually quite a bit into UU randge at the moment (its like at 4% at the moment)

In my spare time, I looked at the real stats vs. the weighted stats, and I saw some interesting movements within the tier, especially in the bottom bit of the top 100. The left is their rank without the weight (the first real number given), and the right is it with the weight.

Pokemon in the top 100 that benefitted from the Weighted stats the most (3 spots up or more)

Hide(Move your mouse to the hide area to reveal the content)Show HideHide Hide

Rotom-N: 40th --> 34th (Up 6)

Rampardos: 106th --> 100th (Up 6)

Kabutops: 24th --> 19th (Up 5)

Carracosta: 91st --> 85th (Up 5)

Rotom-C: 34th --> 30th (Up 4)

Omastar: 44th --> 40th (Up 4)

Medicham: 47th --> 43rd (Up 4)

Piloswine: 81st --> 77th (Up 4)

Natu: 91st --> 87th (Up 4)

Misdreavus: 92nd --> 88th (Up 4)

Sawk: 96th --> 92nd (Up 4)

Gigalith: 97th --> 93rd (Up 4)

Seismitoad: 99th --> 95th (Up 4)

Druddigon: 13th --> 10th (Up 3)

Durant: 17th --> 14th (Up 3)

Lanturn: 26th --> 23rd (Up 3)

Rotom-F: 69th --> 66th (Up 3)

Eelektross: 73rd --> 70th (Up 3)

Torkoal: 91st --> 88th (Up 3)

Torterra: 100th --> 97th (Up 3)

Yeah, Rampardos moved up SIX SPOTS. And these weren't just random Pokemon either - they were Linoone, Regirock, Haunter, and Kadabra who would have otherwise been ahead of Rampardos. Kabutops and Rotom seem to be the most underrated Pokemon within the tier at the moment, having both moved up extensive amounts. There were some really wierd Pokemon that moved up quite a bit, such as Sawk, Torkoal, Natu, and Gigalith, but Pokemon such as Piloswine and Misdreavus are very underrated and stuff like Rotom-C, Durant, and Druddigon honestly had the extra usage coming, as they are all solid Pokemon. Some other RU Pokemon that enjoy this change are Lanturn, Omastar, and Medicham.

Pokemon in the top 100 that didn't benefit from the Weighted stats the most (3 spots down or more)

Hide(Move your mouse to the hide area to reveal the content)Show HideHide Hide

Whimsicott: 35th --> 44th (Down 9)

Drifblim: 94th --> 103rd (Down 9)

Weezing: 98th --> 107th (Down 9)

Armaldo: 83rd --> 90th (Down 7)

Dusknoir: 24th --> 18th (Down 6)

Ditto: 86th --> 92nd (Down 6)

Electivire: 37th --> 42nd (Down 5)

Charizard: 65th --> 70th (Down 5)

Exeggutor: 89th --> 94th (Down 5)

Aerodactyl: 8th --> 12th (Down 4)

Crawdaunt: 28th --> 32nd (Down 4)

Mandibuzz: 53rd --> 57th (Down 4)

Braviary: 80th --> 84th (Down 4)

Altaria: 82nd --> 86th (Down 4)

Accelgor 14th --> 17th (Down 3)

Aggron: 22nd --> 25th (Down 3)

Drapion: 33rd --> 36th (Down 3)

Absol: 43rd --> 46th (Down 3)

Hariyama: 58th --> 61st (Down 3)

Ninjask: 72nd --> 75th (Down 3)

Jesus crist Whimsicott did not ejoy this - it was cut off from tons of its usage and passed up by some underrated Pokemon. Drifblim and Weezing, though not very high in the stats to begin with, decreased in usage greatly, mostly because they really are not very good. While Pokemon such as Charizard, Dusknoir, Ditto, Armaldo, and Electivire saw expected drops, there were still some suprises. Aerodactyl was actually originally a Top 10 mon, but fell greatly. Despite being considered underrated threats by many, Braviary and Absol actually really did not like this new system and moved down, which I didn't expect. A few other suprises in my opinion included Drapion, Aggron, Accelgor and Crawdaunt (actually, all RU Dark-types moved down, with the exception of Spiritomb)

Some other things that were unexpected to me were that Munchlax not really moving down very much, Hitmonchan and Sandlash's percentages moving up thanks to this (though not Sandslash's usage rank), Moltres being slightly hurt by this, and other wierd things down near the bottom such as Wartortle going up while Zangoose and Tauros went down. Also, just for interest, Slowking would have been number one without the weight.

1. Nidoqueen 2. Slowking 3. Sceptile 4. Uxie 5. Gallade 6. Entei - finally some REAL stats XD. I still find it humorous to see Typhlosion and Sandslash in the top 15, lmao. I am quite surprised to see Durant in top 15, too; seems like it carved a strong niche for itself in RU ;d

Arrgh. These Pokemon are still too low in stats. These four are very underrated Pokemon, all better than Sandslash / Evire. The fact that Absol and Esca are still in this area of stats makes me want to scream in horror.

Click to expand...

"Whimsicott and Electivire for NU!"
Why the change of heart bro? :X

Anyway, I think it'd be cool to see some of the Pokemon like Hariyama and Scolipede potentially drop. I can say that Scolipede at least would find itself a decent niche in NU as a powerful revenge-killer of Psychic-types (at least he doesn't have to play prediction games like Skuntank, just press Megahorn and watch something get hit). Shame though that he'd just add to the list of SR-weak Pokemon in NU :<

So with all the changes in the stats this month I had a couple ways I could do this: continue with the raw stats, since that dictates the actual change in usage; or the change from unweighted to weighted, which is new and exciting and might reflect viability more. However, I decided to go with the net change, since it effectively incorporates both. The numbers in the parentheses are the raw change for the month, then the difference between weighted and unweighted.

Insert obligatory Normal Gem Hitmonlee complaint here. However, it appears Liechi Berry Hitmonlee is on the rise, and "good" players are succeeding with him.

The interesting thing about these stat changes is that all the most-used Pokemon in the tier got a bigger bump from the higher-weighted players, hence the presence of Slowking, Uxie, and Sceptile.

I would have thought Cresselia being banned would have bumped Uxie more than it did, but it seems to have just gotten the same boost other top-usage Pokes did.

Cinccino's jump can be attributed to what I hypothesized last month (I am now calling it the "RU Label"), that the "RU Label" directly affects usage. With all of the mystery spammer's NU Pokemon staying in RU range, I believe that this "RU Label" does shape the stats significantly.

The interesting thing here was that not many of these Pokes lost a lot by the new weighting system directly. It appears the majority of people using these guys are actually decent players.

Escavalier confuses me, but there's always one entry like that. It seems SubSD declined quite a bit, but there were more Leftovers used, interesting indeed.

It appears Hail was the new toy and people got bored with it. Pity, because I sure enjoy using it.

People are always complaining about low-tier Pokes still comfortably in RU range, but seem to ignore the fact that some of them are indeed falling. Sandslash happens to be this month's example. Hopefully in the future people will wait to see if their subject of complaint is moving in the undesired direction before complaining. It's a slow process, and the "RU Label" doesn't help speed things up. I would be ecstatic if this kept up through the tier change, even though Sandslash wouldn't drop.

Scolipede is interesting in that he was on the spammer's team, yet fell in usage this month. Most likely having to do with him already owning the "RU Label", so the boost in usage didn't help him much for this month. There's always a couple Pokemon who hover near the border, but don't seem to drop unless it's painfully obvious. I will be interested to watch this month's subjects, Hariyama and Scolipede, to see if they drop further next month. I think they'll need to for NU to get them by the next tier change.

Fortunes Rising: Druddigon
I'll admit, it was harder finding "clean" data to post for this (all other candidates were either already mentioned, re-released, or artificially inflated), Druddigon's future is looking bright. Recently rising into both S-Rank on the Viability Rankings and over 10% usage for the first time ever (I think), Druddigon has quickly gained steam over recent months.

Fortunes Falling: Smeargle
Hard to pinpoint why, but this guy has been steadily falling down in usage over the past three months (from 8.6% in October to 5.2% now). While he is by no means a bad choice in this tier, he finds himself in that "danger zone" with things like Poliwrath, whose natural fluctuations bring them awfully close to the RU/NU border. He'll need to be consciously used more if he's going to regain the ground he's lost.

Bold Prediction of the Month: Durant will finish above Hitmonlee
Wow, my first prediction not involving comparison to the RU cutoff. My reasoning for this is that there are two ways it could occur. First, Hitmonlee falls, not impossible since Hitmonlee has fallen from 13% to 10% before (from October to November actually). Second, Durant rises. This is what makes the prediction bold, imo. Durant has appeared to slow down, but I don't think it's impossible for his rise to continue another month. He still hasn't dropped usage since he was re-released.

Anyway, I think it'd be cool to see some of the Pokemon like Hariyama and Scolipede potentially drop. I can say that Scolipede at least would find itself a decent niche in NU as a powerful revenge-killer of Psychic-types (at least he doesn't have to play prediction games like Skuntank, just press Megahorn and watch something get hit). Shame though that he'd just add to the list of SR-weak Pokemon in NU :<

Click to expand...

That first line of my sig is actually out of date, js.

As for Hariyama and Scolipede, they could fare well in NU, Scolipede makes a good Mushy check, yeah, but it's also capable of being one of NU's best spikers. Although admittedly, I am surprised Scolipede is really low though, it's really solid in the current RU meta; a very capable SD sweeper and spiker alike.

RU Co-Leader

Im actually really surprised at this, Rhydon has proven itself to be an excellent Pokemon in RU multiple times, with a combination of its incredible bulk (most physically bulky Pokemon in the game in fact!), great base 130 Attack stat and amazing STABS, and access to useful utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Megahorn, and Roar. In fact, its quite common in high level play despite its low usage on the ladder .-.. While Rhydon certainly does need some support to function to its full potential (see: Roselia to spike and take on the water/grass-types that give rhydon trouble :o), its a really good tank and utility Pokemon that really deserves more usage. Dont be put of by those weaknesses please, the payoff is more than worth it imo.

Agreeing with Molk that Rhydon is, in fact, the best. It tanks hits like it's its job and retaliates with equal force. It's also very versatile, being able to alter its EV spread and moves significantly to adapt to handle different threats. It can run offensive sets like Choice Band and Rock Polish, and can also run enough Special Defense to take on weak special attackers like Rotom. My favorite set is offensive tank that I've been using since BW1, but I also like a more defensive set because Absol is a threat to a lot of teams and Rhydon is one of its best counters.

However, this just reminds me how bad these stats are, even with weighted ones. I feel like the RU ladder metagame is completely different from the actual RU metagame, which honestly defeats the point of having a ladder. While the stats are better than before, having mediocre Pokemon like Hitmonlee, Typhlosion, and Sandslash much higher than actually good Pokemon like Escavalier, Poliwrath, and Rhydon. This all kinda stems from the fact that RU had the highest average weight of any BW metagame bar Ubers, while the ladder is known to have very few good players on it. Weighted stats are a start I guess, but part of the reason they were designed for is to stop this kind of thing, which hasn't really worked out (except UU Nidoqueen, that is very good).

So...am I the only one who feels like these stats are actually accurately portraying the ladder? I'm not saying that these stats are necessarily portraying what Pokemon are the best in all scenarios but having played hundreds of battles this past month I think the stats very accurately portray the Pokemon used on the ladder.

For example I saw many Hitmonlee, more than I expected, and most of the time it did work, forcing me into a more defensive position than I might have liked with its high powered Fighting moves and Earthquake to target Queen. So basically these stats might not be entirely palatable to players who feel like certain Pokemon should get more use, but they are in fact an accurate representation of what is being used in RU.

So...am I the only one who feels like these stats are actually accurately portraying the ladder? I'm not saying that these stats are necessarily portraying what Pokemon are the best in all scenarios but having played hundreds of battles this past month I think the stats very accurately portray the Pokemon used on the ladder.

Click to expand...

I have to agree with this. While some Pokemon may not be as high as they "should" be, there is a difference between usability and being good. For example, while Poliwrath is good, there are times where I literally have no reason to include it on my team because everything I have happens to take care of what Poliwrath can do. Typhlosion is most likely high because it is a Pokemon a LOT of people need on there team - a fast fire type is just not really found in the tier, especially if you aren't willing to provide SR support for Moltres or something. Escavalier is similar to Poliwrath since it is just so slow, and sometimes just cannot fit onto people's teams once they have a few members left to add and need to address certain threats, and Moltres almost always needs a Spinner, which may explain its low usage.

Moderator

Imo, the issues of certain Pokemon being seen more, despite being perhaps somewhat sub-par in the eyes of more skilled players, is generally an issue of perceived usefulness. For example, look at Sandslash. Good overall bulk, a respectable Attack stat to prevent it from becoming set-up bait, and utilities in the form of Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, whats not to like? Of course to a somewhat more seasoned player they realize that Sandslash by necessity has to specialize itself to serve a singular role or become mediocre by attempting both (ie.the Defensive set cannot spin v.Ghost-types, the SD Rapid Spin set can't pivot into attacks as well). On the other hand, Pokemon such as Moltres seem like a complete chore to upkeep, retaining weaknesses to several common attacking types, as well as a weakness to Stealth Rock, completely disregarding the simplicity of beating spin-blockers with Pokemon such as Kabutops and the sheer power of the Pokemon upon switching in. I wouldn't go as far as to call them a result of ignorance, but these stats reflect that the standard ladder player lean towards safer, low-maintenance Pokemon, while perhaps disregarding other factors that other players take into account.

As for the usage stats as a whole, while certain Pokemon being as high or as low as they are in correlation to where they should be is somewhat irksome, I do agree with Texas in that they are very reflective of the ladder from what I've seen. In addition to the other Pokemon mentioned (Rhydon, Braviary, and Drudd are all very cool, though Drudd's finally getting recognized for it :] ), I'd like to mention another Pokemon that is getting far too little respect. Samurott, chillin' at 0.443% usage (a couple spots below Pineco, for reference '~' ), is a very cool 'mon in the current metagame. Access to Megahorn, as well as solid Attack and Special Attack stats, make Samurott a very effective and dangerous Pokemon, with both its Mixed and SD sets smashing a large amount of face, breaking through common stops to such Pokemon as Slowking and Tangrowth with relative ease. I could probably a bunch of other obscure stuff that only I would use, but maybe another time .-.

RU Co-Leader

Agreeing with col49 that Samurott doesnt get nearly enough love, i would use it more myself if i could stop completely forgetting about it :x.

Anyways, Samurott is, and always has been a solid Pokemon in the RU tier. People usually overlook Swords Dance Samurott for Swords Dance Feraligatr for some reason (i dont particularly think ones better at SD than the other, in fact, i think their pretty much on equal footing). As col49 mentioned, Samurott is unique as a Water-type due to its access to Megahorn, and this is pretty big on the Swords Dance set, as the most common check to physical Water-types such as Kabutops and Gatr in the tier is Tangrowth, who is OHKO'd by a +2 Megahorn after Stealth Rock damage, and Samurott doesnt even have to run a boosting nature to accomplish this, allowing it to run a speed boosting nature to outspeed the various neutral base 80s that reside in RU such as Kabutops and Gallade, as well as Nidoqueen. Also, unlike Feraligatr and Kabutops, Samurott is capable of running a very potent Mixed/Special set that performs exceptionally well as a wallbreaker. Hydro Pump alone is very tough to switch into, and the Pokemon that can switch in on Hydro Pump need to be very wary of Samurott's coverage moves, Poliwrath and Lanturn fear switching directly into a Hidden Power Grass, which can 2hko Poliwrath with ease and has a chance to 2hko Lanturn as well, while Slowking hates Megahorn with a passion. Btw, if you want to try out Samurott, here are imports of its two most effective sets, imo.

Good thing this garbage is so low. It gets walled by every single magic guard and magic bounce pokemon in the tier and grass types walk all over this piece of trash. Not only does it lack offensive presence, but also lacks defenses as well. Its highest stat, speed, is useless because it already has prankster. Use Sceptile or Tangrowth.

| 59 | Klinklang | 3.78245% | 3100 | 3.946% | 2433 | 3.772% |

This is very odd. Klinklang is a pretty good pokemon, but falls at risk of dropping to NU. While it isn't the best late game cleaner, after a shift gear boost, weakened teams will get pulverized. Along with Rhydon, Klinklang needs more usage.

| 62 | Scolipede | 3.10743% | 2589 | 3.295% | 2162 | 3.352% |

Also suprising. This thing is one of the best spikers in RU. It also has powerful moves like Megahorn, EQ and Aqua Tail. Its also among the fastest pokemon in ru, sitting at a high base speed of 112. If it drops, than expect to see more scolipede in nu.

| 212 | Magcargo | 0.07560% | 80 | 0.102% | 63 | 0.098% |

Believe it or not, Magcargo needs more usage. It is a pretty good moltres counter. Here are some calcs: